5 things you can do to combat trafficking

Eden House is the first home in Louisiana for human trafficking survivors and the only home for women trying to leave prostitution. Eden House does this by providing a safe home, coordinating recovery services, and through advocacy, outreach, education, and love.(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)Buy Photo

3. Don’t contribute to the demand

Trafficking victims end up in other areas of the sex industry, including: pornography, cam rooms, stripping, phone sex, escorts, and certain game rooms and massage parlors.

“The public needs to know if they are involved in any of those things, they are creating a demand,” Mills said.

“Before that camera rolls, you don’t know what happened to that lady. Did she say, ‘Great, I want to do this,’ or did someone tell her, ‘You better do this, and you better do it good.’”

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A human trafficking probation unit started at Caddo Juvenile Services in 2015. The unit helps sexually exploited teenagers who have been trafficked. Louisiana native Julie Cantrell tackles the human trafficking in Louisiana in her new novel “The Feathered Bone.”(Photo: Douglas Collier/The Times)

4. Educate your children

If you have children, talk to them about sex trafficking.

Ask schools to address Internet safety in the curriculum. Keep computers in a family space, monitor who your children are talking to and dating, gain access to your children's passwords of phones and social media sites.